Sunflower Fields Forever
by drowsy
Summary: When an inconvenient fall through an enchanted old well lands Kagome in the middle of an odd forest, she must put her full trust into a strange man with golden eyes and ivory hair to help her find her way back home. But trust can sometimes be misleading.


**Author's Note:** Sooo, this is the first fanfic I've done in a while. I've just recently gotten interested in writing again and this is one of the first ideas that got stuck in my head. So without saying much else, here's the first chapter.

**Summary:** When an inconvenient fall through an enchanted old well lands Kagome smack in the middle of a forest with no idea where she is, things can't get much worse in one day. That is to say until she discovers that someone's following her. After getting chased down by said someone, a strange man with golden eyes and ivory hair, she learns that she's fallen into a fairytale world, so to speak, and must now find a way to get home. With the man as her only aquaintance in this whimsical land, she must trust that he can help her back to reality. But trust can sometimes be misleading.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Inuyasha or allusions to any published fairytales (Alice In Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, etc.).

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**Sunflower Fields Forever**

Chapter One: An Inconvenient Fall

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_4a (26b - 2i) 6i (8b + ab)..._

"This is ridiculous."

Kagome peeled her eyes away from the second of sixty-three math problems and stared longingly out her bedroom window. It was a beautiful day, one of the better ones yet this season, and despite that fact she was still stuck inside doing last minute homework. She wished Eri or Yuka, or even Ayumi would call, _anything_ to give her reason to abandon the work. She reached over and grabbed the cell phone sitting at the foot of her bed, hoping that maybe she'd somehow not heard it while it rang.

Unlikely. She'd only been checking it every five or six minutes and each time-

"_Nothing,_" The girl murmured with an irritated growl, tossing the phone back onto the bed in frustration. "Some friends."

She forced herself to look back down at the paper which now resembled merely a jumble of foreign symbols. She'd _never_ finish it. Propping her elbows up on the desk she laid her head into her hands, massaging away the headache that was about to attack her temple. Maybe... a nap wouldn't hurt. She'd be able to think more clearly after some much-needed rest. She let her eyelids flutter together, but not before catching a strange flash of light out of her window. Shooting her head back up, she scanned the shrine grounds from her spot in her room. _Odd... All this work is driving me insane._ The light was nowhere to be seen but something beyond her senses held her gaze at the old well house in the furthest corner of the shrine. She couldn't tell what it was; something seemed off about the place, but just as she was about to forget about it and continue her homework she saw it again. It was very visible and clearly _wasn't_ her imagination. An orb of pink light appeared, floating eerily above the ground; dancing through the air in a hypnotizing way as if asking the dark-haired girl to come to it.

Her brow furrowed in confusion as she rose from her seat, her eyes however still fixed on the orb. She watched it until it slipped through the well house door, and curiosity taking hold she quickly burst out of her room, down the stairs, and fled her house, arriving closer and closer to the small building.

It was in view now, and the light just beyond its doors; the light that seemed to call to her, beckoning her to go forward. Tentatively, Kagome pushed past it's creaking frames and stepped inside the wooden shack. The orb was nowhere to be seen, but a faint pink glow emitted softly from within the rickety old well in the center of the room.

Eager to get another look at the strange light, she stepped over to the side of the well and leaned above the dark abyss below. There, deep within was the orb, glowing brighter now as flames seemed to dance within its core. It looked so warm, so inviting against the cool breeze sweeping in from the open door... If only she could... touch it...

Leaning even further, hand outstretched, she yearned to feel more of the radiating heat it gave off, gently caressing her face. She ignored the creaking of the ancient wood as she put her weight against the side of the well, flexing her fingers out further. Before she could figure out what was happening there was an ear-splitting crack and her eyes went wide as she felt the wood give way, sending her tumbling into the sea of darkness below her.

She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out, and as quickly as she had fallen in she was just as quickly submerged within the same pink light. She could feel herself physically slowing mid-air, taking a moment to process that it went beyond the laws of gravity, unless of course she was underwater... But she could breath, she could feel the air around her. She suddenly took notice of the many strange objects falling past her as well. There was an assortment of crosses and rosaries and scrolls, and even odder objects that Kagome had neither seen nor heard of before.

She reached a hand out to a rosary falling just a few feet from her but quickly retracted it when it was suddenly shot upwards; either that or she was sent further down, she couldn't tell which while still falling through the never ending hole.

And then the pink light was gone. She wasn't falling anymore, at least she didn't think so. She was in total darkness, no wait... She looked up. There was a faint glimpse of sunlight clouded by... trees... _Since when is the well outside?_ She looked down at her feet. Her feet, she noticed were standing solidly upon cold dirt. She looked wildly around her within the confined space in a mixture of shock and amazement, wondering how on earth she could have possibly made it through that fall without so much as a scratch, and then going on to question where she was. It quite obviously wasn't the shrine.

"Only one way to find out," she muttered to herself quietly, peering up again while tracing her hand against the rough wood. _If there's no ladder to climb..._ Her thought was finished as her eyes fell upon a thick tangle of vines growing all the way to the top from a single side of the well. "Hmm," she mused, "How curious..."

Without thinking twice before approaching the greenery, she gave a quick but firm tug on one of the vines to check how sturdy it was.

"Ow!" She couldn't help but cry out as she pulled her hand back to examine it. A thin strip of blood immediately began to flow from the spot where a thorn on the vine had pierced her skin. She drew the palm of her hand to her mouth to relieve the stab of pain it had caused, and grimacing, she looked around the inside of the well once again before letting her eyes fall back upon the vine. _Unless anyone walks by with a rope or a ladder..._

"Hello?!" She called desperately upwards towards the mouth of the well.

Nothing.

"Anyone?! Please!"

Still nothing.

"I'm stuck..." She pouted in a lower tone, to herself more so than anyone else.

She grabbed the vine gingerly into her hands again. It appeared that no one was around to hear her cries, leaving her with two options. The first, sit around and wait until someone walked by. That could take hours! Or second, suck it up and get herself out of the mess she'd created for herself. The first one sounded less painful, but she was already breaking into a sweat of claustrophobia. She didn't want to be stuck inside the well any longer. _Here goes..._

She tugged firmly on the vine again, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt the thorns push against her skin. _It's not that far up._ Her eyes watered as multiple strips of blood joined the previous. _Just one step at a time. _Her hands were on fire._ Oh, maybe I'll just wait for someone. _She squeezed tighter, feeling herself slip. _No, I'm already halfway up. _She ground her teeth together, willing herself further. _Just a few more pulls._ She made it.

Pulling herself over the side of the well with bloodied hands, Kagome let out a sigh of relief as she wiped the warm liquid onto her skirt and brushed a tear off her cheek, leaving another red stain on her skin. It wasn't until she'd stopped worrying about her hands that she looked at her environment. No, this definitely wasn't the shrine anymore.

She found herself in the center of a clearing, surrounded by trees taller than any she'd ever seen. None of it looked familiar and she silently wondered where she could possibly be. It was all so strange to her. One minute she'd been standing in the well house and now, just minutes it seemed later, she was in the middle of a forest. _I must be dreaming._

_Nope._ She concluded against it after pinching her arm. She was sure that she was fully awake.

"Maybe..." she murmured, biting her lip while deep in thought. _Maybe if I jump back in it'll take me home..._ She was in a foreign land with no idea how she'd gotten there and even less a clue as to who or _what_ else could possibly be in the same forest. It wasn't a safe bet to stick around. _On the other hand..._ If it didn't work... She didn't want to climb back up that dreadful vine. Her awaiting homework seemed in no way appealing right now either, and besides, she was overdue for some adventure... At least, that's what she tried to convince herself. Curiosity eventually took control of her, blocking all reason out of her head, leading her into the dense thicket of trees.

Less than three minutes into the forest she quickly changed her mind. Strange animals surrounded her with their voices and it seemed that there were shadows lurking behind every tree, and she could have sworn there was someone or some_thing_ following behind her every time she heard a twig snap or a dead leaf crack. Frantically, her eyes searched for a way out of the trees. Something, _anything_ to set her free of this maze. A cold sweat broke out along her forehead as she picked up her pace, pushing past tree limbs and hanging vines.

She heard it then. Clear and definite footsteps. They weren't far behind her and they sounded like they were getting closer and closer with each pace.

She panicked. Lacking the courage to turn around and face whatever it was that was following her, Kagome broke into a dead-on run. Turning right, and then left, and then running diagonal to that, she tried her hardest to throw off her stalker. She lost herself further and further into the forest, no longer hearing any footsteps or anything else above her heavy, struggled breathing. When she thought she couldn't run any longer, she pushed herself further, pleading her legs to keep moving. She could feel adrenaline pumping through her veins, urging her forward, and after what felt like hours, but what reality told was just minutes, she burst past the confines of the trees and stumbled towards the dirt beneath her, her arms pushed ahead to break her fall. Closing her eyes tight against hot tears, she laid sprawled out on the ground, gasping to calm her labored breath. Slowly regaining herself, she mustered up the strength to rise to her feet and look around her. The sight before her was shocking.

There in front of her eyes lay a stretch of golden sunflowers running further than she could see. It was beautiful, like nothing she'd ever witnessed before. Never had she heard of fields like these in Japan, and it made her question more as to where she could possibly be. She couldn't peel her eyes away from the scene; the way the clear blue sky met the brilliant yellow horizon of flowers. It was breathtaking, and she held the view until...

"_Hmm, you're quite the chase..._"

Her eyes widened and her body froze in terror. A cold chill ran up her spine as the icy words breathed hot against the back of her neck. She whipped around and came face to face with her intruder, only centimeters away from the speaker's face. Her voice got caught somewhere within her throat as her own steel blue eyes met his cunning, citrus gaze. She didn't know what came over her but suddenly she felt unable to move; unable to breathe. A lump gathered in her throat with everything she tried to say, but she finally managed to sputter something out, surprising herself with how pitiful and weak her voice sounded.

"W-Why have you been following me?"

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**A/N:** Hmm, sorry for the cliff-hanger. P Don't forget to review! The more reviews the faster I update!


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